Terror
by Heather Giesbrecht
Summary: Unconsciously, Thor had started to back away and he stopped when Loki glared at him. Thor/Loki. Chapter 2 of 2 - Phantom posted.
1. Terror

**Terror**

Thor, frozen in utter horror and terror, stared at Loki. The left side of Loki's face was normal and as he smiled that emerald-eye held mischief, but on the right side, there was no flesh only bone. Slowly, one of Loki's hands, the skeletal one, rose to brush hair from his face and eye, the socket i-it was empty too.

Loki took a step forward, his head tilting and eyebrow furrowing over his half-visible nose cavity. Hurt was evident in Loki's tone, "Do you not like this Thor ? After all, this happened because I saved you." That tone became quavering, "How could I have possibly let that thing kill you when I loved you even more than myself ? Why do you fear me now ? Stop leaving me !"

Unconsciously, he had started to back away and he stopped when Loki glared at him. Once they had jested that he had taken Loki's strength and Loki in turn had taken the eloquence that should have been his; now, though it was no longer funny. "I...you, Loki. I-I cannot..." Anguish filled him as his brother wrapped his arms about himself.

A pitiful look through the remaining long eyelashes, "You cannot what Thor ? Love me, is that what you were going to say ?"

Despite the disgusted half of him, the stronger half still wanted to go and comfort Loki. To hold his brother, stroke his hair and tell him that his love knew not a single boundary. When he took a step forward the nightmare/dream ended and his eyes jerked open to see the wall of his bedchambers in Avengers Tower.

Guilt was heavy in his stomach while bile rose in his throat because Loki had not appeared in his Wanda induced vision. H-he was forgetting Loki, with a hard swallow he got up and instinctively stumbled toward the outer wall of windows. Only to have his heart suddenly ache as he realized that there were too many lights and clouds to see the stars...Loki had loved looking at the stars. The times that they had spent all night gazing upward before everything had changed were innumerable.

As if from some far realm he heard himself say, "I swear that I will not forget you, Loki. I cannot forget you, I still love you."

Time and motion blurred together before he noticed that he sat on the roof's edge. The roof had changed so much since he and Loki had fought here, it was almost impossible to realize that this was in fact the same place. It seemed even the universe wanted to forget that Loki once had lived in it. Truly, it was more terrifying to him if someone should forget Loki then to forget himself because at long last the wish for equality between them had finally come true.

Someone moved to sit down beside him and surprise filled him to see that it was Banner. Banner did not say anything, they merely sat in silence as a star shot through a patch of blackness overhead. Of all the stars the shooting ones had held the honour of being Loki's favourite, perhaps Loki had sent the star to reassure him. It was a lovely thought and he smiled in response.


	2. Phantom

**Phantom**

It was perhaps a few hours after Thor had returned to his bedchambers from the roof and fallen asleep when Loki's voice called, "Thor, Thor."

Groggily, he half-opened his eyes seconds later they slid closed again before shooting open. Crouched beside his bed was Loki utterly whole, beautiful, but cast half in shadow by a slowly rising sun. _'_ _W-what ? How ?_ _'_

A faint grin crossed Loki's lips, "Good morning."

Disbelief and joy flooded through his limbs as he scrambled to push the blankets off and himself up. "Loki !" _'_ _Tell me, tell me that this was all some terrible nightmare._ _'_

Seconds later, he threw himself at Loki only to crash into the beige-tiled floor as Loki flickered to stand before him. Automatically, "Don't say a word." left his lips.

That right-eyebrow rose as did the pale hands, "I wasn't even thinking of it."

While his head rested against cool tile he wondered, "Is this another of my dreams ?"

Laughter before Loki smoothed his hair and replied arrogantly, "While I am the best looking thing in the entire universe no, Brother, this is not a dream."

Such a Loki answer was it that he immediately burst into a fit of laughter. _'_ _First a star and now this it must be my lucky day. Nnn, why did Kurse have to kill him ? If he had lived I would have happily given the throne to him had I been able to, had Father allowed it. He would_ _'_ _ve handled the pressures of ruling far better than I._ _'_ His laughter subsided into a remorseful, "I miss you."

Both emerald-eyes blinked as they suddenly verged on tears, "I miss you too." Loki shook his head then rose to look at the bed. "You destroy the Bifrost for her, risk Father's wrath to save her and yet your precious Jane is not here, why ?"

He moved to stand as well, "She does not understand why I still care for you because she knows only the destruction you wrought and not the good, so she has started to drift from me. Rarely do I see her now and part of me is grateful, despite what I told myself ever I loved you more than I love her she knows this and resents it."

Phantom pressure and a brief coldness against his lips before Loki flickered out of and back into sight. "Hmm, good."

A question drifted through his mind as he looked around the gold-painted room. "Why are you here ? I-is Mother here too ?"

Relief filled him when Loki smiled, "No, Mother is not. As far as I know, she is where she is supposed to be. I came to see you because I-I, well, it is just…I wanted to tell you that I still love you."

' _Least wise Mother is safe but poor Loki. Why has he not moved on ? Is something holding him back ?_ _'_

It was hard to keep himself from reaching out to stroke Loki's hair because of how lonesome the pale man, err, ghost had suddenly become. "I love you too. Loki why do you not stay here ?"

Bitter disbelief filled Loki's eyes, "Stay here, stay here ? Have you gone madder than I was ? I could not stay in this place, even were I to become so inclined your…friends…would not stand to have me and would try to rid themselves of me permanently. You know that they hate me and you shall too."

' _What does he mean ? Is this about what I said before ? I wasn_ _'_ _t thinking clearly when I said that I-I was overwhelmed by Mother_ _'_ _s death still._ _'_

He crossed his arms, gripping his forearms tightly as he exclaimed, "I could never hate you ! No matter what I said back in the dungeon I did not mean it when I said that I would kill you."

Briefly, Loki looked to scream at him for idiocy until Loki merely rolled his eyes instead. "It is not that. Too lucky by far would I be were it only that. There are things that I have done which you know not of and when you find out I swear that you will. Since no doubt your friends will arrive soon I'm saying good-bye."

Useless protests left his mouth only to die as Loki flickered out of sight and didn't return. The sound of many footsteps rushed into his inner chambers.

Romanov called, "Thor ? Thor where are you ?"

Slowly, he walked out of his bedchambers around the corner to his relaxing and sparring area. As he responded, "I am well." he saw that Romanov, Banner, Rogers, Stark and Barton stood around the room.

Romanov, Rogers and Barton had their weapons at the ready. Stark who stood beside the small table at the far end shook his head, "Anybody screaming for Loki is bad news, much less if it's you Thor. Ugh, great, now I need to get that image out of my head."

The red-haired woman snickered, "You can't blame anyone but yourself." as she holstered her guns.

Banner moved to stand before him asking, "So, what was all the screaming about ?"

Embarrassed his gaze darted about the room, "I woke up suddenly and thought that I saw him. Ever since he died whether consciously or not I have repressed most thought of him, last night I realized that and I felt like I had failed him. I-I just wanted to see him again."

Barton slung his bow onto his back, "Of course, he'd be enough of an asshole to come back as a ghost. Why didn't he help us with Ultron then ?"

Anger had his jaw clenching while clouds suddenly blocked the sun. "You know not of what you speak Barton so hold your tongue. You did not know him as I did. Long before any of you had hope of being born he was a child so terrified of storms that he would climb into my bed at night. He would beg me to stop them when I had yet to learn how. I would distract him with some story until the storm stopped or he fell asleep. One time when we were eight I nearly drowned after I was thrown into a river and knocked unconscious by a bilgesnipe. I awoke long enough to see him scaring the bilgesnipe away with the illusion of an even bigger bilgesnipe as he pushed me onto the shore before being dragged himself into an undertow. Mother saved him yet still he worried far more about me than himself. How many times his magic saved my life I long lost count after our five-hundredth years and until everything changed he was one of Asgard's staunchest warriors. You all met him only after he had gone through things that we know not but I know that it would have taken a great deal of torture indeed to shatter his mind so much as it was. He redeemed himself by saving my life at cost of his own. Had Loki not died Malekith would have destroyed everything including all of your lives so do not dare to presume to know why Loki would come back."

Rogers at the least had the grace to look ashamed of his past words. Stark looked as if he could not care less and he, briefly, considered hitting the apathy out of the man. _'_ _Sometimes I understand all too well why Loki threw him out of the tower._ _'_

At least, he did until part of Loki's words came back, "You know hitting doesn't solve everything, Brother."

Banner put a hand on his arm, "It's all right Thor and it's not your fault they don't consider that he wasn't always like that. Personally, pre-crazy Loki actually sounds like a guy I could've been good friends with."

Stark picked something up from the table, "What is this thing ? I've seen yellow apples but this is actually like gold or something." The black-haired man suddenly dropped it to rub and blow on his hands, "Ouch, and it's cold too what the fuck ?"

Meanwhile, he crossed the room to catch the apple before it could hit the table and Rogers rubbed at his face with a sigh of disgusted annoyance.

Rogers wondered, "Where did that apple come from Thor ? I thought you hadn't gone back to Asgard since you left."

His voice trembled as he replied, "I have not." Weak light gleamed off the apple's frost covered surface and he stared at it nearly in tears. _'_ _L-Loki ? There is no other explanation for how it could have gotten here. Is this his way of saying that I should go back home to see what Father thinks of all the Infinity Stones that have surfaced ?_ _'_

The apple was not so cold that it was painful for him. _'_ _Loki wants me to do this so how can I deny him ?_ _'_

Bewildered he watched the apple float out of his grasp before it thwacked mightily into Stark's forehead. A moment of silence passed before he burst into laughter, Banner and Rogers joined him in mirth as Romanov smiled.

Barton asked, "Is the apple any good ?"

Stark glared at Barton, "No, it's horrible." then turned and walked out of the room.

Loki's voice caressed his ear, "This is better, Brother I prefer you cheerful to tearful. Now, if this does not get our lovely image from his mind I know not what will."

Unconsciously, a broad smile crossed his face and he shook his head slightly. While he picked the apple from the table, _'_ _Even when he is dead Loki has good timing._ _'_ crossed his mind. As he straightened and took a bite he thought it would be nice to go home to see not only Father but also his oldest friends again.


End file.
